When I lived in New York, I ordered the same thing from Charlie Mom in the village ALL the time: cold sesame noodles, steamed veg dumplings and string beans. It is so yummy that when I go back to New York I always make it one of my meals, even in a city of many many choices.

Then we moved to Florida. I was pregnant with my second child and craved the noodles. I called all the local Chinese places and they had no idea what I was talking about. It was sad. Luckily, I had started to cook and so I made my own.

Through the years I have tried lots and lots of recipes. Our family favorite is this one adapted from Susan Spungen's cookbook, "Recipes A collection for the modern cook." (In case you don't know Susan Spungen was responsible for the food in the movies, "Julie & Julia," "It's Complicated" and "Eat, Pray, Love." The scene in "It's Complicated" where Meryl Steep and Steve Martin make chocolate croissants made me want to learn how to bake and open up a beautiful food shop.)

Boil 1 pound thick spaghetti according to package directions.
Drain over frozen peas and rinse with cold water.
In a bowl mix peanut mixture, strips of peppers, chopped almonds and the other half of lime juice.
Enjoy!

Note: The Spungen recipe omits peppers and adds mango and cilantro.

VERY important note: Make sure the top of the blender is on tightly. Miss M. tried to make this Sunday, without the top tightly on.

I wish I had the pictures. Peanut sauce everywhere. On the window, in the cabinets, under the shelves, on the floor, on the lunch boxes, everywhere - EVERYWHERE!

Willow, a native New Yorker, now resides in Ponte Vedre Beach, Florida with her family. She describes herself as a sometime cook, compulsive volunteer, hack decorator and voracious reader of blogs, books and magazines. She is author of the popular blog: spruceandquill.blogspot.com.